Terms of Service

Effective: June 6, 2026 · Last updated: June 6, 2026

These Terms of Service ("Terms") form a binding agreement between you and Denzel Christopher Combs, a sole proprietorship based in Indiana ("Shepard," "we," "us," or "our"), governing your use of the Shepard mobile application, website, backend APIs, and any related services (collectively, the "Service").

By creating an account, downloading the app, or using any part of the Service, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

1. Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years old to create an account. If you are between 13 and 18, you represent that a parent or legal guardian has reviewed and agreed to these Terms on your behalf. By using the Service you represent that:

  • You are at least 13 years old.
  • You have the legal capacity to enter into this agreement (or a parent/guardian has done so for you).
  • You are not barred from using the Service under the laws of the United States or your jurisdiction.
  • The information you provide at registration is accurate and kept up to date.

2. Accounts and security

2.1 Account creation

You create an account by providing an email and password. We use Supabase Auth for authentication. You agree to keep your credentials confidential and to notify us immediately at support@shepard.love of any unauthorized access.

2.2 Your church

Shepard is a multi-tenant platform: every account belongs to one or more churches ("tenants"). The church admin controls member invitations, role assignments, and removal. If your church removes you or deactivates their subscription, your access to that church's content ends.

2.3 Roles

Your role within a church (member, volunteer, admin, pastor, accountant, or similar) determines what you can see and do. Pastors and admins have elevated permissions, including access to giving reports, member rosters, workflow automation, and the Shepard Assistant AI feature. You agree to use these permissions only for legitimate church administration purposes.

3. Your content

3.1 What you post

You retain ownership of the content you submit — posts, comments, prayers, messages, photos, videos, stories, volunteer signups, family relationships, and everything else you create ("Your Content"). By submitting Your Content, you grant Shepard a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, reproduce, display, and transmit it solely for the purpose of operating the Service and making it available to other members of your church as you direct.

This license ends when you delete Your Content or your account, except for:

  • Content others have shared or quoted (copies in their inboxes, screenshots);
  • Backups retained under our normal backup-retention schedule (up to 90 days);
  • Content we must retain to comply with law.

3.2 Content rules

You agree not to submit content that:

  • Is illegal, defamatory, harassing, threatening, obscene, or hateful;
  • Infringes anyone's intellectual property, privacy, or publicity rights;
  • Contains spam, malware, or phishing links;
  • Impersonates anyone or misrepresents your affiliation with any person or church;
  • Promotes violence, self-harm, exploitation of minors, or illegal activity;
  • Discloses other people's personal information without consent;
  • Interferes with the Service or other users' enjoyment of it.

We may remove any content that violates these Terms and may suspend or terminate accounts that repeatedly violate them.

3.3 Reporting and moderation

You can report any post, comment, or user from within the app. Church admins and pastors have tools to review reports and take action. We reserve the right to review and remove content at our sole discretion, but we have no obligation to pre-screen content.

3.4 Blocking

You can block other users. A blocked user cannot see your profile, message you, or comment on your posts.

4. Payments, subscriptions, and donations

4.1 Subscriptions (church admins only)

Churches subscribe to Shepard in one of three tiers:

  • Standard — $39/month
  • Premium — $99/month
  • Enterprise — $249/month

Subscription fees are billed monthly in advance via Stripe. All fees are non-refundable except where required by law. You can cancel at any time from the admin dashboard; cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing cycle.

4.2 Donations

Individual members can make one-time or recurring donations to their church through the Service. Donations are processed by Stripe, Inc. — Shepard never handles your card details directly.

Shepard charges your church a small platform fee on each donation:

  • Standard tier: 1.3%
  • Premium tier: 1.0%
  • Enterprise tier: 0.5%

Stripe's own processing fees apply separately. Donations are voluntary contributions to your church (a registered 501(c)(3) in most cases) and are exempt from Apple's In-App Purchase requirement under App Store Review Guideline 3.2.1(vi).

4.3 Fundraisers

Churches may create fundraising campaigns to which members can donate. Goal amounts, deadlines, and fund designations are set by the church. Shepard does not guarantee that any fundraiser will reach its goal, that donations will be refunded if a goal is missed, or that donated funds will be used in any particular way — that is between you and your church.

4.4 Refunds and chargebacks

Refund and chargeback policies for donations and subscription fees are governed by Stripe and by your church's internal policies. Shepard acts only as the platform facilitating the transaction.

4.5 Taxes

You are responsible for any taxes associated with your use of the Service and for reporting donations correctly to tax authorities. Shepard does not provide tax advice. Year-end giving statements generated in the app are for your convenience; you should verify them with your church and your tax advisor.

5. Prohibited uses

You agree not to:

  • Reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to derive source code from the Service;
  • Access the Service by any means other than the official app or documented APIs;
  • Scrape, crawl, or harvest data from the Service;
  • Use the Service to build a competing product;
  • Probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of our systems without written permission;
  • Bypass or interfere with rate limits, authentication, or access controls;
  • Use automated tools to create accounts, send messages, or post content;
  • Use the Service in violation of any law (including export controls and sanctions).

6. Intellectual property

Shepard, the Shepard logo, the Shepard Assistant feature, the badge catalog, the workflow templates, and the app itself (excluding Your Content) are owned by Shepard and protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws. Nothing in these Terms transfers ownership of any of our intellectual property to you.

Third-party assets (icons, fonts, libraries) are used under their respective licenses; credits are available on request.

7. Third-party services

The Service integrates with third-party providers including Stripe, Supabase, Render, AWS S3, Expo Push Service, Anthropic, Resend, Twilio, and Mux. Your use of these integrations is also governed by the providers' own terms and privacy policies. We are not responsible for third-party services or their content.

8. Termination

8.1 By you

You may delete your account at any time from Settings → Delete Account. Deletion removes your profile and content as described in the Privacy Policy. You can also email support@shepard.love to request deletion.

8.2 By us

We may suspend or terminate your account at our discretion if we believe you have violated these Terms, created risk or legal exposure for Shepard or other users, or for any other reason permitted by law. Where feasible, we will give you notice and a chance to cure.

8.3 Effect of termination

On termination, your right to use the Service ends immediately. Provisions that by their nature should survive termination (ownership, disclaimers, limitations of liability, indemnification, dispute resolution, general terms) do survive.

9. Disclaimers

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, TITLE, OR QUIET ENJOYMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, SECURE, OR FREE OF HARMFUL COMPONENTS, OR THAT ANY CONTENT WILL BE PRESERVED OR ACCURATE.

SHEPARD DOES NOT PROVIDE PASTORAL, SPIRITUAL, MEDICAL, LEGAL, FINANCIAL, OR TAX ADVICE. INFORMATION IN THE APP IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. RELYING ON THE SHEPARD ASSISTANT, WORKFLOW AUTOMATIONS, OR ANY AI-GENERATED OUTPUT IS AT YOUR OWN RISK.

10. Limitation of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL SHEPARD OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS OR REVENUES, WHETHER INCURRED DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, OR ANY LOSS OF DATA, USE, GOODWILL, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE.

OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNT YOU PAID SHEPARD IN THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM AROSE, OR (B) US $100.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or limitations of liability; in those jurisdictions, the limitations above apply to the maximum extent allowed.

11. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Shepard, its owner, and its service providers from any claim, loss, liability, damage, or expense (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to: (a) your use of the Service; (b) Your Content; (c) your violation of these Terms; or (d) your violation of any third-party right or applicable law.

12. Governing law and dispute resolution

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Indiana, USA, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles.

12.1 Informal resolution first

Before filing a claim, you agree to try to resolve the dispute informally by emailing support@shepard.love. We'll do the same. If we can't resolve within 60 days, either party may proceed.

12.2 Venue

Any lawsuit must be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Indiana, and you consent to personal jurisdiction there. If you are a consumer resident in a jurisdiction that prohibits this venue clause, the clause does not apply to you.

12.3 No class actions

To the extent permitted by law, you and Shepard agree that disputes will be resolved only on an individual basis and not as a class action, collective action, or representative proceeding.

13. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify you via in-app notice or email at least 14 days before the change takes effect. Your continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms. If you don't agree, stop using the Service and delete your account.

14. General

  • Entire agreement. These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between you and Shepard regarding the Service.
  • Severability. If any provision is held unenforceable, the rest remains in effect.
  • No waiver. Our failure to enforce any right is not a waiver of that right.
  • Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our written consent. We may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.
  • Notices. We may give notices by in-app message, email to your registered address, or posting on our website. You may notify us at the address below.
  • Force majeure. We are not liable for delay or failure caused by events beyond our reasonable control (including network outages, natural disasters, labor issues, acts of government, or failures of third-party services).

15. Contact

Email: support@shepard.love

Mail: Denzel Christopher Combs, 1701 Dr. Andrew J Brown Ave, Indianapolis, IN 46202